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Title: The Crisis of Church and State, 1050-1300 (Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching, No 21) by Brian Tierney ISBN: 0-8020-6701-8 Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr Pub. Date: March, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Where freedom came from.
Comment: This book contains many of the critical documents that trace the origin of Western freedoms. Tierney prefaces the main body of his material with a few short but fascinating passages from and on people like Ambrose and Augustine. In the following chapters, he traces the debate about the relationship between Church and State as it developed in three or four dozen key documents from 1050 to 1300. Tierney helpfully sets context for each passage. In some, popes and kings jockey for power; in others, thinkers offer balanced or didactically one-sided solutions.
Again and again one notes key NT passages coming up, like "My kingdom is not of this world," and "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." As Tierney notes, the influence of Christianity on the proceedings are clear in two ways: first, "The very existence of two power structures competing for men's allegiance greatly enhanced the possibilities for human freedom." And second, "The possibility of a continuing tension between church and state was inherent in th every beginnings of the Christian religion." The documents eloquently demonstrate these points for themselves. The interest is not always in big themes, however, but often in human and even humorous details. Tierney's selection is varied.
Anyone who thinks modern freedom was an escape from Medieval despotism or ex nihilo invention of the Enlightenment, or that all religions are the same, and theological differences between religions have little practical effect, should carefully read this book. Clearly, the Grand Inquisitor is not the whole story, nor the big story, of the Middle Ages. Donald Treadgold's Freedom: A History, also makes some good comparative points in relation to other cultures. But there is nothing like going to the original sources for getting a feel for what people really thought, and why they thought it. An excellent resource.
Rating: 4
Summary: A good reference and resource
Comment: A solid compendium of medieval documents relating to the clash between church and state. Translated from Latin into fairly readable English, Tierney includes introductory material and notes which allow him to maintain some of the nuance of Latin connotations that would usually not carry over into English translation. This book has lots of documents that we all hear about in European History texts but usually don't read in their entirety, such as the supposed "Donation of Constantine" which the Renaissance linguist Lorenzo Valla proved to be a forgery through textual analysis. Tierney's book shows that far from the relatively aloof, spiritual province the Church consigns itself to today, things weren't always that way. In the medieval era, the Church Militant was every bit a secular authority as well as a spirtual one, and the boundaries between church and state blurred. It was only through the centuries of conflict reflected in Tierney's book that the modern split between church and state first emerged, and the possibility of Western Europe and the United States being ruled by theocratic governments faded. A great supplementary text or source of documents for a medieval history or western civilization course, this book would be an interesting read for anyone concerned about the ancient roots of the tension between Church and State whose reverberations still echo today on Capitol Hill.
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Title: Letters of Abelard and Heloise, The by Peter Abelard, Betty Radice ISBN: 0140442979 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 03 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State by Joseph R. Strayer ISBN: 0691007691 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 January, 1973 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Murder of Charles the Good (Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching, 12) by Galbert, Marshal, Medieval Academy of America, Galbert of Bruges, James B. Ross ISBN: 0802064795 Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr Pub. Date: June, 1982 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe by Henri Pirenne, I. E. Clegg ISBN: 0156275333 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: June, 1956 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Medieval Papacy (Library of World Civilization) by Geoffrey Barraclough ISBN: 0393951006 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 1979 List Price(USD): $16.35 |
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